Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 18.djvu/288

. I suppose so. They have had him in the chair once.

. Wonderful! (Putting on his eye-glasses.) But is he clean?

. How do I know?

. So you had better—

. What, Fédor Iványch?

. Go, take a nail-brush and scented soap,—take mine, if you want to,—and cut his nails and wash them clean.

. He will wash them himself.

. Well, tell him to do so. And let him put on clean linen.

. All right, Fédor Iványch. (Exit.)

. He is learned, yes, Aleksyéy Vladímirovich is a professor, but I often have my doubts about him. Popular superstitions are coarse, and they are destroyed: the superstitions about house-spirits, wizards, witches— And when you come to think of it, this is just such a superstition. Really, is it possible for the spirits of the dead to speak and play the guitar? Somebody is fooling them, or maybe they are fooling themselves. I can't make it out about Semén. (Looking through the album.) Here is their spiritualistic album. How can one take a photograph of a spirit? Here is a picture of a Turk sitting with Leoníd Fédorovich— A wonderful human weakness!

(entering). Well, is everything ready?